Author Description

Unifying Germany, 1989-1990 is perhaps the definitive account of the extraordinary months that mark a watershed in this century's history. It lucidly describes the events, both large and small, that led to unification in Germany and paints a broader picture of communism's decline throughout eastern Europe. Particular attention is given to the genesis of the liberalizing drive within the German Democratic Republic and the official reaction - on both sides of the Berlin Wall - to this phenomenon. Drawing from a great range of sources, Professor Gortemaker not only analyzes the threads that connect recent German developments directly to the nation's past but also the new factors that reflect a profound discontinuity with that same past. The book ends with a discussion of the impact these great events will have on the nature of the German state as their full cultural, financial, and political effects are absorbed in both the east and west.